Letter: A feel good bill

It is obvious that Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and the other senators who voted for the Internet sales tax never owned, operated or managed any business, especially a retail enterprise.

Under the Marketplace Fairness Act, any retail seller who makes more than $1 million in remote sales in a year, although that could change – whether brick and mortar or sales via the Internet – must register and collect sales tax in states that also approve certain provisions. They also must apply for a registration number from every authorized state.

There are thousands of state, county and municipal tax codes, and each state must supply the applicants with all of the various taxes. The merchants must file a retail tax report per state indicating gross sales and taxable amount and send the tax payment.

Without the merchant's retail identifying tax number, the deposit is meaningless. Even if the business did not collect any sales tax, a return must be submitted with a zero balance. The state then has the responsibility to send each separate taxing district the tax that was received.

This legislation is a feel good bill and completely unenforceable. The IRS does not collect any taxes owed to the states. Each individual state is required to collect all taxes for its state, whether income, property or sales tax. Furthermore, why would any retail merchant or Internet business collect another state's retail sales tax? Sen. Durbin and the other senators fail to understand why people purchase products on the Internet – the items are not available locally, not just to avoid paying sales tax.

The true reason for the Internet sales tax, which should be defeated in the House, is to plant the idea of a value added tax (VAT) placed on all sales.